Optics Binding

That’s a wrap. All the Outland books are finished and en route to their forever homes. Farewell my lovelies!

Here’s some process shots of my From Hell re-bind. As you can see, it started off with a copy of From Hell, the Companion volume, and a signature sheet. After trimming the spines off, I sewed the single sheets together using a whip-stitch. Creating the “ripped cover” took quite a bit of trial and error to get it to look right. The key was having multiple ripped layers of not just the marbled paper but the actual cover board as well. To get the red to really pop on the front cover titling I ended up printing black ink over red paper. It’s always fun to do old-school bindings with raised bands on the spine because it means I get to dust off my tying-up finishing press!

When I designed the newest Optics Press book I focused on it being its own weird, wonderful thing and not just a vessel for something marketable that can be mass produced: after all, there’s only 15 of them! Hence the avoidance of calling it “Thomas Pynchon at Boeing: The early years!” or some stupid s**t like that. I wanted to keep any Pynchon design flourish as minimal, unobtrusive, and cryptic as possible. Little clues sprinkled all over that like a Pynchon novel are up to you to piece together and figure out a solution, if the pieces even fit together, or if there was a problem in the first place. One example is that on pages that feature a possible/probable Pynchon article (none of the articles have bylines) I’ve marked the page number with the symbol from Gravity’s Rainbow. For those unfamiliar, the title of Pynchon’s most famous novel refers to the arc in the flight path of a V2 rocket. Since each issue is a different color I was serendipitously able to achieve an actual rainbow, which I found delightful. Other Pynchon easter eggs include a ‘Kilroy was here’ schematic, a coded message, and a nod to the cover of his debut novel “V” with the vanishing point lines heading to the horizon (a striking design flourish that also is coincidentally(?) used in illustrations throughout the book). Be sure to check out the video I made of the finished book, link in the comments.

I finished binding the newest Optics Press book last night and couldn’t be more thrilled with how it all turned out. With each new Optics Press book I’m constantly pushing myself to tackle new challenges so I can become a better bookbinder, artist, and human being. This was by far the most challenging book I’ve made on every level from the restoration and design to the printing and binding. I just snapped a few quick pics to show it off on this post but I’ll be taking more detailed photos and interior shots as well as creating a flip through video in the coming week so everyone who isn’t able to view a physical copy can enjoy. Now it’s time to take a day or two off before starting my next project!

The Optics Press #8 update: The books are in the final stages! All that’s left is to finish attaching the leather & cloth and make the slipcases. If all goes well they should be done in the next couple weeks. Here’s a bunch of process shots from the last couple months showing the printing and binding process. I’m beyond stoked with how this project is turning out and can’t wait to show it off to all of you.

For those just tuning in, this newest Optics Press book is the complete Bomarc Service News, Boeing’s in house newsletter for the Bomarc Missile Program in the late 50s, early 60s. Featuring the earliest professional writing of Thomas Pynchon who worked at Boeing as he was writing his debut novel, these newsletters are also a treasure trove of mid century design and illustration.